Our Founder
Virginia Kilmer is CEO of Perpetual Care, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting pet owners with estate planning and rescuing pets that are orphaned by the death of their guardian. Virginia founded Perpetual Care in 2002.
Virginia has an MBA in Finance and Hospital Administration. She worked as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of hospitals for over 25 years, while also founding her nonprofit, Perpetual Care. She was also Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare nonprofit organization.
Virginia served as President of the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies (VFHS), a statewide non-profit membership organization for animal welfare organizations, animal welfare workers and animal lovers, from 2009 to 2013. VFHS provides education, serves as legislative advocate and sponsors programs to benefit animal welfare in Virginia. She served as President for 4 years and previously served for 8 years as Treasurer of VFHS.
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In 2016, Virginia also started her own consulting firm, Wheaten Sterling LLC, which provides strategic planning and financial services for nonprofit organizations. In her role as consultant, she offers workshops on strategic planning, development planning, finances and other topics to benefit nonprofit organizations. She brings those skills and experiences to the board of directors of Perpetual Care.
Virginia expresses her passion for Perpetual Care when she says, “Our pets trust us to love and care for them. We honor that trust by having plans in place to care for them in case we are no longer able to do so. That’s the foundation and purpose for Perpetual Care.”
Chelsea
How it all Began.....
Chelsea was my Bichon Frise from the time she was 8 weeks old until she passed away at 16 years. She was the first and last dog I bought from a breeder. The breeder worked from her home which I was able to tour and inspect, let me meet the parents and had very high adoption standards, but a few years after that, I discovered the many wonderful dogs that die in shelters every day and found a passion for helping to rescue shelter dogs and find homes for them. In 2002 after a year of fostering and helping to rehome shelter pets, I started Perpetual Care to rescue animals from shelters.
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Chelsea was my heart dog. I gave her my heart completely and she gave me unconditional love and affection. My heart broke when I lost her, but by then, I had discovered my passion for helping and protecting pets like her from the trauma of shelters and untimely death because they ended up there.
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Not long after Chelsea passed away, I saw a woman with a young Bichon, so I stopped to talk with her and meet her dog. The woman was probably in her late 70's and she said her dog was 2 years old. She told me that when she passed away, she put it in her will that her Bichon would be euthanized and buried with her. When I asked her why, she said, "Because no one in my family will take care of him after I'm gone." That made me sad, and I thought, "That's just not right". I didn't think her dog should have to die because she died. I thought more and more about what she said over the next several days and looked at my rescue dogs. I realized that if anything happened to me, I too had no one to care for them and I feared for them if they ended up in a shelter.
I suddenly understood how that woman was thinking. To her, it would be better to euthanize her dog than to think of him going to any place or anyone who would not love him like she did and treat him with kindness and affection. She feared he would end up in a shelter. She feared for his safety and happiness. In her mind, the only way she could keep him safe was to take him with her. That was the moment that I began to form the concept of Perpetual Care as a rescue for orphaned pets; only for pets who lose their owner due to death. My mission and my passion is to give pets and pet owners a better alternative for their pets who are left behind without their guardian.
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Perpetual Care Life Center is a place where pet owners can trust that their pets will have love and care, where they are not at risk for being killed just to make space for other animals entering the shelter, where they will have a safe, loving place to live.
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Virginia Kilmer,
Founder and CEO
Perpetual Care
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